In brief

The Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 2025) finally received Royal Assent and became law on 18 December 2025. It represents what the government has described as “the biggest upgrade of workers’ rights in a generation” and includes a raft of changes to the current industrial relations framework.

This article, published in International Employment Lawyer on 20 January 2026, covers a number of the key changes, some of which will apply from as early as February 2026.

In depth

The Department for Business and Trade reported in May this year that the proportion of UK employees who are trade union members (22% in 2024) is the lowest on record. The government is introducing two changes which may well turn the tide on dwindling union membership rates.

The most material change for many organisations is the new right of access. Under the new rules, unions will be able to request an “access agreement” granting union officials access to an employer’s workforce. Access means both physical entry to the workplace and digital access to workers.

Union officers will be allowed to request access to meet, support, represent, recruit or organise workers, and to facilitate collective bargaining, but not to organise industrial action. If an employer fails to respond to a union’s request for access, or negotiations on an access agreement are unsuccessful, unions may apply to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) for a determination.

The government consultation on these changes closed in...

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